Glad they got Hines #1000, but a shovel pass? Really? Give him a slant, or at least a WR screen. A 3 yard loss on # 1K not exactly the memory you want, but I guess it doesn't really matter. Ticket to HOF punched.

At Denver in round 1, probably best you can hope for. They shouldn't get more than 10 points. In the thin air, Suisham might be able to hit a 40 yarder.

Cincy backed into playoffs? They might have shot at Houston, which would put us in Balty in round 2.

Next week in Denver we'll see two good defenses and two woeful offenses. Someone's going to win 10-6, and I think it will be the lucky team that wins it. Ben seems totally out of sorts, at a time when the O-line seems to have stabilized and the running game has been pretty good.

One bit of idle speculation: If Leftwich had been available, would Tomlin have been content to rest Ben for all the last three games?

What happened to Mike Wallace? I know Ben has missed him on a few deep throws, so that's part of the downturn in his productivity. But it also seems like teams have successfully taken him out of the game, without a lot of effort it seems (hard to tell since TV doesn't show us receivers, esp. when not thrown to). But Wallace's second half and Ward's sudden demise convinces me that WR is not a position the team should ignore this offseason. And with Mendy's knee ripped up, Moore disappeared, RB may not be, either.

Yes the offense looked like shit. But c'mon that weather off of lake Erie is the worst. The Steelers controlled the clock and the stats sheet, averaged like 4.5 yards per carry, and Redman's two fumbles helped Cleveland stay in the game and was reflected in the final score. Polamalu also had his best game in a while. Not necessarily the game you want headed into the playoffs, but its all relative- look at the Texans, Broncos, and Bengals.